'Shared sacrifice'

[Che a chara]

In these times of economic doom and gloom and disorder, at least some level-headed rich are willing to sacrifice their ill-gotten gains. Warren Buffett, who was listed as the 3rd richest person in the world (http://www.forbes.com/lists/2010/10/billionaires-2010_Warren-Buffett_C0R3.html), recently commented in this article (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/15/opinion/stop-coddling-the-super-rich.html):



While the poor and middle class fight for us in Afghanistan, and while most Americans struggle to make ends meet, we mega-rich continue to get our extraordinary tax breaks.


My friends and I have been coddled long enough by a billionaire-friendly Congress. It's time for our government to get serious about shared sacrifice.

And across the pond in France, the business and financial elite are also calling for a raise in taxes:




France's richest say: Tax us more (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14646975)

Some of France's wealthiest people have called on the government to tackle its deficit by raising taxes - on the rich.

Sixteen executives, including Europe's richest woman, the L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt, offered in an open letter to pay a "special contribution" in a spirit of "solidarity".

Later the government is due to announce tighter fiscal measures as it seeks to reassure markets and curb the deficit.

They are expected to include a special tax on the super-rich.

Before the announcement, expected on Wednesday evening, a letter appeared on the website of the French magazine Le Nouvel Observateur.

It was signed by some of France's most high-profile chief executives, including Christophe de Margerie of oil firm Total, Frederic Oudea of bank Societe Generale, and Air France's Jean-Cyril Spinetta.

They said: "We, the presidents and leaders of industry, businessmen and women, bankers and wealthy citizens would like the richest people to have to pay a 'special contribution'."

They said they had benefited from the French system and that: "When the public finances deficit and the prospects of a worsening state debt threaten the future of France and Europe and when the government is asking everybody for solidarity, it seems necessary for us to contribute."

They warned, however, that the contribution should not be so severe that it would provoke an exodus of the rich or increased tax avoidance.

The move follows a call by US billionaire investor Warren Buffett for higher taxes on the American ultra-rich.

Rating fears

The French government has already said it is working on a special tax on those earning more than 1m euros (£900,000) a year.

The measures are expected to be part of a new package aimed at cutting up to 14bn euros from the budget deficit over the next two years.

It is not clear exactly what form they will take, but they are expected to include a reduction in tax breaks and increased taxes on big companies.

The government has been forced to act after recent fears that France's AAA credit rating could be downgraded.

France plans to trim its public deficit to 5.7 % this year, 4.6 % next year and 3% in 2013.

[00000000000]

Hmmm...i don't see the rest of the uber rich going for this...but a nice thought..(albeit in a we're-staying-rich-and-powerful-but-have-a-lil-more-of-our-money-for-a-bit way)

[Che a chara]

A more cynical person could claim that these could be seen as tokenistic appeasement gestures that coincidently come on the back of the recent riots and looting in England ...... hmmmm... Leave our property alone but take our pennies.

[Jimmie Higgins]

I doubt the rich even care that much about taxes on income rather than on business and it could also be a way to try and sell increases in all taxes in a regressive way.

[piet11111]

They do it out of fear not out of any "solidarity" they know what their politicians have in store for us and they know damn well how we will respond.

The internet made it impossible to hide their excesses.

[Sensible Socialist]

The wealthy are frightened by uncertainty. They'd rather have a stable business environment where they know they can exploit workers and make obscene profits without having to deal with an angry population. People like Warren Buffet aren't stupid; they know that it's easier, and safer, to make money when people aren't in the streets rioting.

[RGacky3]

Unlike the US, the ruling class in France is afraid of the workers, and they should be.

[RichardAWilson]

Warren Buffet is a moderate liberal (center-left). Some of the super-rich are reformists because they know that capitalism trends toward disequilibrium and chaos. George Soros, for instance, subscribes to the philosophical views of Karl Popper.

The disintegration of the American economy (via downgrades, deteriorating infrastructure, etc.) would harm them more than a moderate tax increase. The same holds true in France.

[Bud Struggle]

Unlike the US, the ruling class in France is afraid of the workers,...

FWIW, that's the correct answer. :)

As to if should BE that way---that's for the American workers to decide--and no one else.

[RGacky3]

its not a matter of "should be", the working class would be way better of in the US if they acted more like the french working class.

[danyboy27]

FWIW, that's the correct answer. :)

As to if should BE that way---that's for the American workers to decide--and no one else.

welcome back!

[danyboy27]

Its a matter of survival, those folks know what the situation will look like in 10 year, they know that the more austerity measures are pushed, the more the country they live in will look like third world country where they will be forced to maintain a small private army to protect themselves and their families from kidnapping or attacks, that their mean of production could be destroyed or just took away by scores of disgrunted peoples.

it used to be a majority, its now, a minority of the buisness peoples.